A Houston chef is showcasing his skills on Season 5 of Next Level Chef. Trinidad Gonzalez, better known locally as Chef Machete is one of the professional chefs who will compete in cooking challenges for the opportunity to win $250,000 and professional mentorship from celebrity chef judges Gordon Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington, and Richard Blais.

This Fox show has a unique conceit. Chef teams work together in three kitchen stacked on top of each other, like a strange multi-story culinary incubator where the top floor's kitchen is pristine, with state-of-the-art equipment, the bottom floor's kitchen is decrepit, and the middle floor is an average commercial kitchen. Other twists bring added challenges.

Locally known for his Bay Area taqueria Gordo Niños, Machete is a self-taught chef who serves fusion style tacos and burritos. Available with fillings such as chicken, pastor, and beef, the chef's "secret menu" of over-the-top items such as deep-fried burritos or the "Surf N Turf Killa-Dilla," a quesadilla stuffed with shrimp, carne asada, french fries, guacamole, two kinds of cheese, and Mexican ketchup — add the chef's signature "Lean Sauce" for another $1. He's also a multi-time winner of taco competition that's part of the University of St. Thomas's popular Two Saints and a Taco fundraiser.

Machete survived the first episode, which aired on January 29, making him eligible to be drafted onto a team led by one of the judges. A new episode, which debuts this Thursday, February 5, will feature two Texas-based "social media" chefs, Tim Laielli and Christian Alquiza.

Laielli, who is based in Dripping Springs, has 1.4 million followers on Instagram and 910,000 subscribers on YouTube. He doesn't have an obvious signature style that viewers can expect him to lean on in the competition. If anything, his strength may be his willingness to try new recipes, often using his daughters' requests and cuisines around the world as a springboard (whether complying or completely ignoring them) into dishes like Thai curry, homemade McGriddles, and a lot of steaks.

Over in Austin proper, Alquiza posts videos under the punny account name @illsqueezeya. He's also worked for the channel First We Feast, where he hosts Hot Kitchen, a snappy instructional show focusing on indulgent, dramatic foods like super-hot chicken and a 10,000-calorie cheat meal.

Alquiza's personal videos follow more of the standard food show format, with the chef speaking to the camera and offering step-by-step instructions to follow along with. Even though his image is mostly wrapped up with First We Feast, Next Level Chef considers him a social media chef.

The two Austin chefs have even collaborated before. Things seem to have gone well on the show, since all three Texas chefs posed for a picture at Beyond The Lines Tattoo in Austin, with a text overlay revealing that the chefs got inked up together.

Looks like the chefs had a good time.Beyond the Lines Tattoo/Instagram

Viewers can watch Next Level Chef every Thursday on Fox or streaming the next day on Hulu.

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Eric Sandler contributed to this article.

A Trinidad González/Facebook

Chef Trinidad "Machete" González is competing on Next Level Chef.